How to Open a Browser from the Linux Terminal: CL & GUI Options

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Access any web page from a terminal with these quick commands

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: December 23, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using w3m

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Using Links2

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Opening Any Browser from Terminal

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Tips

Whether you want to browse the web in a text-only browser or launch a GUI browser like Chromium or Firefox in a terminal on Linux, we have you covered. Read on to learn easy ways to browse the internet in a Linux terminal window, plus how to open a graphical browser using terminal commands.

Browsing the Internet from a Linux Terminal

To go to a website in a terminal, install a browser like w3m or Links2.
Once installed, use "w3m <website address>" or "links2 <website address>" to browse the web in a terminal window.
To open a graphical web browser like Chrome or Chromium from the command line, use "google-chrome &" or "chromium-browser &".

Section 1 of 3:

Browse from the Terminal with w3m

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1
Install w3m. You can use the text-based w3m web browser to browse the internet from the terminal. It isn't preinstalled, but you can get the package from your distribution's default repositories.
- If you're using Ubuntu or another Debian-based Linux, use the command sudo apt install w3m to get it.
- On Red Hat, Fedora, or other RH-based distros, use sudo dnf install w3m.
- On Arch Linux, Manjaro, or other distros that use the pacman package manager, use sudo pacman -S w3m.
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Consider installing xterm. In the default terminal application, you won't be able to use w3m's handy right-click menu or view images. If you use xterm, a replacement terminal app, instead, you can right-click any page to access features like Back, View Source, Bookmark, and even a Quit option.
- Xterm is available through your distro's repositories—just use the installation command from above but replace w3m with xterm to install it.
- One installed, you can launch xterm by typing xterm at the prompt and pressing ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return, or by selecting it in from your app list.
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3
Use w3m (website address) to visit a website. For example, if you want to browse wikiHow's website, type w3m www.wikihow.com and press Enter or Return.
- If you want to see images on the page, you'll need to use a different terminal app like xterm.
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Navigate around the site.
- Use the arrow keys to go up, down, left, or right, or just use your mouse.
- To follow a link, select it and press Enter or Return.^{[1]
  X
  Research source}
- To type into a text box, click the text box with your cursor, press Enter or Return, type your text, and press Enter or Return again.
- To follow a link, navigate to it using the arrow keys (or click it with your cursor), then press Enter or Return.
- If you're using xterm instead of the default terminal app, right-click anywhere on the page to access additional options.
- Press B to go back.
- Use ⇧ Shift+T to open a new tab.
- In xterm, you can view an image by selecting it and pressing i.
- To search for text on a page, press /, type your search term, and press Enter or Return. You can press n to find the next instance of your search term, or N (capital) to go back.

Section 2 of 3:

Browse from the Terminal with Links2

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1
Install Links2. Links2 is another web browser you can use to access the web from the Linux terminal. It even has a graphical version you can open from the command line if you prefer to see images and use your mouse to browse.
- If using Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux versions, install Links2 with sudo apt install links2.
- On Red Hat, Fedora, or other RH-based distros, use sudo dnf install links2.
- On Arch Linux, Manjaro, or other distros that use the pacman package manager, use sudo pacman -S links2.
For example, if you want to browse wikiHow's website, type links2 www.wikihow.com and press Enter or Return.
If you want features like images on the page, a back button at the top of the browser, and a right-click menu, include the "-g" option.
4
Navigate around the site.
- Press F9 to toggle the menu on or off.^{[2]
  X
  Research source}
- Use the arrow keys or your cursor to navigate.
- To follow a link, select it, then press Enter or Return.
- Press s to access your bookmark manager, where you can add, remove, and find bookmarks.

Section 3 of 3:

Open a Browser from the Linux Terminal

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Type your browser's name at the prompt, followed by an ampersand. Alternatively, you can enter a specific browser's application name, like google-chrome &, firefox &, or chromium-browser &.
- Adding the & after the command allows you to continue typing commands into the terminal and close the terminal without closing your browser. If you're writing a script, you'll definitely want to use this option.
- To open your default web browser from a terminal, you'd type x-www-browser &.
- You can also go right to a website from the command line. For example, if you want to open Chromium to wikiHow's homepage, use chromium-browser www.wikihow.com &.
- In Chrome, you can open your browser in Incognito mode using google-chrome --incognito &. For a complete list of Chrome command line switches, check out https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches.